After plugging the countersunk screw holes with cedar plugs, I decided to finish the top of the workbench with this:
..followed by a coat of osmo poly hard wax oil clear, as per the instructions for the tinted polyx.
A couple of things I would have done differently:
- I would not have left the cut ply edges exposed as they did not take the stain evenly. This is rectifiable by attaching a trim, but not very convenient as I will have to cut a small amount from the front edge to remove the roundover, and this will have to be done in situ now I screwed the top down.
- I would have cut the top from the same piece of ply – the sections I used were from 2 separate pieces, and each took varying amounts of the stain so they do not match exactly
Still I think it will add to the durability of the top and at some point I’ll paint the base which should improve appearances.
I also added a couple of spur sockets above the bench. Can you have too many sockets? No, you can not.
Finally I added an upstand, thinking it would be useful to have a little storage area along the back of the bench I built it with a recess, but I had not really thought through the dimensions and the gap left is a bit narrow to be very useful. Still it will no doubt come in handy now and then.
